Pages

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

City of Death set

I'm getting kinda annoyed of all the sets featuring 4th Doctor episodes end up being the 4th Doctor and one of the villains. Seriously, let's get some Romana or K-9 action going. (The sets that don't feature the 4th Doctor, all use the same Leela figure, which is a small step forward but not by much.) Case in point: This City of Death set.

City of Death is one of the episode Douglas Adams helped write. Yes, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that Douglas Adams. The outfit that Romana wears in this episode is one of the iconic Romana outfits, perhaps even one of the most iconic companion outfits of the entire series. But you don't get that in this set. Instead what you get is the Doctor wearing his "Exterior shot" scarf that was designed not to get caught on things if he had to run around, Count Scarlioni, and a copy of the Mona Lisa.

Now I quite like this Doctor variation. It's one of the few that isn't wearing a vest, going instead for a casual button down shirt look with a lot of the top buttons undone. I haven't gotten a 4th Doctor figure with the exterior scarf, most of mine are the interior scarf variants, which were designed to drag on the ground a little more and was a little more tightly wound around the neck since the environment could be controlled and there was less of a chance of an accidental scarf choking.

Scarlioni is also a pretty neat figure. The likeness is really good and he comes with an alternate head to simulate his "real alien face under a rubber human mask" that the character sports for the final part of the story. Oh. Spoiler warning... for a 30 year old television episode. Fuck it. Dude's an alien. It's Doctor Who. It happens. A lot.

The Mona Lisa painting is also a nice nod to the story's plot. You can even flash a UV light over it to see that "It's a Fake" has been painted on it. Of course the way the letters are slathered on the canvas, you can see it without a UV light. But nice touch.

Overall it's a nice set. Both figures are quality but the set goes for $40. That's about $20 a figure. Pretty steep really, especially for another 4th Doctor. I would have much preferred they replaced the Fourth Doctor with Romana or even the character that was used for the John Cleese cameo. At this point I wonder if they really think that no one who would buy this set doesn't have a 4th Doctor figure or if packing in a figure they've already made for is the only way they can justify covering the costs for a new figure in a limited run.

They're lucky that 1) City of Death is one of my favorite episodes and that Scarlioni is one of the great bad guys from Doctor Who and 2) I like this look of the variant Doctor. Otherwise no way would I have been willing to pony up full price for this set.